Postgraduate coursework degrees

Family Therapy Foundations: Philosophy, Frameworks and Contemporary Systemic Practice is a course providing an introduction to core concepts of family therapy theory and practice. It will help you develop new ways of understanding a range of difficulties impacting families and equip you will knowledge and skills to respond effectively.

*This course is a pre-requisite for applicants offered a place in the Master in Clinical Family Therapy. You will be sent a registration link to the course when you receive your offer. Your offer is conditional upon you completing this course.

Although not a pre-requisite for applicants offered a place in the Graduate Certificate in Family Therapy, it is recommended that they complete Family Therapy Foundations: Philosophy, Frameworks and Contemporary Systemic Practice.

HECS and FEE-Help is not applicable to Family Therapy Foundations.

Purpose

To provide students at 2nd and 3rd year levels with a learning experience, consisting primarily of live family work that would facilitate achievement of a sufficient level of clinical skill to begin to see families registered with The Bouverie Centre, as required in the 3rd year of the Master of Clinical Family Therapy.

To enable students to complete their assessments, which require reflection on families seen for family therapy. Specifically, this fulfils the requirement to see one family at any one time and to have recorded work to take to their live supervision group. It would remain the student’s responsibility to maintain the other four cases at a time.

Activities

The Groups would consist of up to 6 students led by a supervisor who would participate for the most part in seeing families taken from the regular waiting list of the Clinical Program of The Bouverie Centre. Initially the families would be seen by the supervisor with one of the student group present as co-therapist. The remainder of the group would observe the sessions from behind the one-way screen and also function as a Reflecting team. As the year progresses it is expected that the students would take increasing responsibility for the therapy even to the point of being the sole therapist with a family. Students and supervisor would engage in planning, preparation and debriefing discussions about the clinical work with the families they are seeing.

It is an expectation, even if families fail to attend, that students would attend the group and participate in alternative learning opportunities. These might consist of planning and preparation in respect to the families being seen, or in supervised role play based on the family that failed to attend. (NB: Case discussions about families from the students’ own context would not be part of the agenda of the group as this is not a “supervision group” in the usual sense.)

Please note that, while the best efforts are made to get families for everyone, there is no guarantee that this will happen, or that all students will see the same number of families/sessions. Students should ensure that they do not hold back on volunteering to see families as they become available in order to maximise their opportunities for practice.

Rationale

For over two decades The Bouverie Centre has required that students be undertaking clinical practice with families in a context other than the course in order to apply, develop and integrate the skills and knowledge they are acquiring during the course. The requirement for family work has been reduced to a minimum of 1 at any one time over the academic year, however there is a strong recommendation that students be seeing more than this.

It is acknowledged however, that clinical family practice is difficult to find and this situation can preclude involvement by a significant number of workers who would otherwise be interested in and benefit from the course. The Clinical Practice Group (CPG) is an alternative support for students to obtain the clinical practice they need to further their skills. It needs to be said however, that direct and frequent experience as a family therapist is still the preferable adjunct to the course. Students who participate in the CPG will receive a valuable learning experience, however they will be encouraged to continue to seek direct work with families in either a paid or voluntary capacity.

Who can participate

Groups are open to any student enrolled in the Master of Clinical Family Therapy but spaces are limited and priority will be given to students in 2nd and 3rd years, and to those students who are otherwise unable to access families for clinical practice to meet the usual course requirement.

Times of the groups

From 3:00pm to 7:00pm on the students’ usual study day i.e. either Wednesday or Thursday. There may however, be room for negotiation if the supervisor and all group members can agree on an alternative time.

Cost

$2500 up front or $2950 over four instalments. These are non-refundable. HECS Help and FEE-Help is not applicable. Commitment to the CPG program is for 12 months.